TWU notebook: Pioneers hot with 4-0 start

One could say starting off the
volleyball season last weekend went better than expected for the TWU Pioneers.

Head coach Shelly Barberee went a step
further, calling it “awesome.”

TWU blew through four opponents in its
five-team Holiday Inn Express & Suites Classic to kick start the new season
the best way possible — undefeated. The Pioneers’ 4-0 start is the best in
Barberee’s nine seasons at the program’s helm and is a reversal of last year’s
0-5 start en route to a 13-17 campaign.

What made the weekend all the better was
the fact that TWU didn’t lose a single set during its four matches. The
Pioneers completed three-set sweeps of East Central and Arkansas-Monticello on
Friday and then swept past New Mexico Highlands and Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras on
Saturday.

“We had a rough start last year, so one
of our goals this year was to get off to a better start,” Barberee said. “I
really wasn’t expecting to not drop a set, but I’m certainly glad it happened.

“We had some players who stepped up and
really did a good job.”

The four sweeps match the number of
three-set victories TWU enjoyed all of last season. A year ago the Pioneers
were more accustomed to playing in extended battles that went the full five
sets, going 7-7 in those matches.

Returning senior and preseason
conference player of the year Viktorija Jablonska started off where she ended
last season — as the Lone Star Conference’s Co-Player of the Year — by leading
the Pioneers at the net. She combined for 21 kills in Friday’s two wins,
registered 17 kills Saturday and made a case for herself as a premier server
with five service aces during the two-day competition.

TWU also saw immediate impacts from several
newcomers, including transfers Marcela Alves and Courtnee Davis. Alves drilled
20 kills in Friday’s play, while Davis recorded a game-high 19 digs in the win
over East Central and followed that with 14 kills in Saturday’s play.

“What’s different is our passing, and
serve receiving was right on the mark,” Barberee said. “We were getting better
passes so we were able to put more balls away.

“And we’re already communicating better
as a team,” she said. “We were talking before the play and after the play, and
I was really glad to see that.”

TWU begins the season’s longest road
trip this weekend when it travels to Colorado Mesa to play in the five-team
Holiday Inn Crossroads Classic. The Pioneers play their next seven matches,
including their first three Lone Star Conference matches, on the road before
returning home Sept. 21.

Soccer

Coach
has mixed emotions

In less than 48 hours, soccer coach
Fleur Benatar went from feeling pretty good about her team to trying to stomach
a game she believed her Pioneers didn’t deserve to lose.

On Saturday, TWU unveiled its new
home-field lighting system by playing host to 15th-ranked Dallas Baptist.
Although DBU broke out to a 3-0 lead before TWU’s Emily Davila managed the
season’s first goal late in the game, Benatar was encouraged by what she saw
from her Pioneers.

“DBU picked up two goals that were
careless mistakes on our part,” Benatar said. “I thought we matched them pretty
well. I saw some bright things — our energy and our creativity. We didn’t give
up.”

On Monday afternoon, though, she watched
the Pioneers thoroughly dominate Ouachita Baptist in total shots and shots on
goal, only to allow a header goal off a corner kick with six minutes remaining
that resulted in a disheartening 1-0 loss.

TWU outshot Ouachita Baptist by a 23-9
margin and attempted nine shots on goal compared to their opponents’ two.

“To me it seemed like they were waiting
for us to score,” Benatar said. “We definitely kept the pressure on them. I
thought we were the better team. I don’t think my team deserved to lose.”

TWU returns to action Friday with a
nonconference game at East Central in Ada, Okla.

Davila’s
wait ends

It was a longtime coming, but junior
forward Emily Davila finally notched the second goal of her career.

Davila played in and started all 18 of
the Pioneers’ games in 2010 when she was a freshman and scored one goal. But
the Dallas native did not play last season before deciding to rejoin the team
this year.

She scored in the 84th minute of
Saturday’s game against Dallas Baptist to score the first and only TWU goal
this season.

Basketball

Open
tryout scheduled

The Pioneers basketball program wants to
see if there are any hidden gems walking around the TWU campus.

An open tryout for this year’s team will
be held at 7 p.m. Monday at the Kitty Magee Arena in Pioneer Hall. Players
wanting to participate must be currently enrolled at TWU and have remaining
collegiate eligibility.

Participants must register prior to the
tryout and provide proof of a physical administered by a licensed physician
within the last six months. Those interested in trying out must return two
signed forms — a Waiver and Assumption of Risk form and Medical History
Questionnaire — to the TWU basketball office by Friday.

Both forms are available at
www.TWUathletics.com. More information is available by contacting TWU assistant
coach Michael Madrid at 940-898-2621.

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